Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-03-25

UCLC.
Mark the situation. The Red River just
above Alexandria runs with a current of
nine miles an hour. There is a descent of
a mile, called tho Tails" or "Rapics, in
which, at that season of low water, great
black rocks showed their ugly heads above
the surface. Above the rapids the gunboat
fleet was, to all appearance, hopeless!y
stranded. The sailors knew of no way TO
help themselves.
In this crisis, an astonishing plan was
proposed by the army. 1t was TO dam up
the river from each side. so as to raise the
water above, by which means the gunboats
would be Hoated, md be enabled to pass
through an opening of fiftv-tive feet in the
middle of the dam to the deep water below.
The proposition looked like madness,
Admiral Porter. Yet in eleven days the
army accomplished this herculean work,
released the imprisoned gunboats, and sent
them on their way rejoicing to the Missis-
sippi.
The whole annals Of military engineer
ing. ancient or modern, may we'll be chal-
lenged to match this exploit; the labors of
any and all armies may be sought for in
vain to furnish anything SO stnpendous of
this kind.
The achievement filled the C~onfederates
with amazement. They realized its inn
portance, if the people of the North did
not. And the residents of the vicinity,
seeing our army thus bring the forces of
nature into subsection, mildly wondered if
there was anything that those cursed Yam
KEGS couldn't do.
The credit of planning this wonderful
work is given to Lieutenant Colonel Bailey,
Of the Fourth Wisconsin, then engineer OF
the Nineteenth Corps. He is since dead,
and no one would wish to rob his memory
of this rare honor. But it will not detract
from his just fame to state that there were
men carrying muskets in that army who
We're perfectly familiar with the principle
OF the scheme. and who had actually helped
| to put it in practice or the Susquehanna
River, in releasing O steamboat stranded
at low water.
In his testimony before the Committee on
the Conduct of the War, General Emory
stated that he also heard the idea advanced
by a soldier Of the One Hundred aud
Fourteenth New York. who came to him
cess, On the Susquehanna, which he thought
u much more difficult stream for the ex-
pertinent than the Red.
The name of that man ought to go into
history, for the incident shows the almost
boundless capabilities of the men who
compos d the Union armies. They could
do anything; theywere never ut fault. Over
Mt Algiers, opposite New Orleans, when a
New England regiment We're starting out to
repair the dismantled railroad. the engineer
of the train declared that he sympathized
with the South, and would not serve the
Yankees. General Butler ordered him in
irons, and asked if there was anybody in
the regiment who would undertake to run
the tram.
%fulldozen practical engineers instantly
stepped out.
The man who conceived the idea of the
dam simultaneously with Colonel Bailey,
was Sergeant Theodore Evans. Of Balm
bridge, Chenango County, New York. He
is also deceased.
But to conceive this idea was one thing,
and to put it into practical operation was
another. Without the full and hearty CO.
operation Of the men nothing could be &C
complished, Would they give it?
They answered that question fully, nobly.
They laid aside their muskets, and man
fully undertook q work which was simply
appalling in its magnitude.
For eleven days. three thousand soldiers
worked in %reliefs, night and day, to dam
the Red River and float the gunboats of
the shadows. Rations and forage were al
" ShAouoSo, Will wis uOue must DC
done instantly, for the army could not stay
here and starve. Tie men worked like
beavers. They chopped down acres of
timber: They tore down all the neighbour
ing mills, to get brick and stone. Wagons
on the roads and tlat-boats on the river
were plying inccssantly, bringing in the
material.
From the Alexandria side of the river q
dam was built out three hundred feet. It
was made OF the trunks Of large trees,
brushwood, stone, and brick, crossed with
other timber, and strengthened in every
possible way. At the end of this, four
large coal-barges We're sunk, filled with
stone and brick. F.om the opposite
bank, cribs filled with stone were
built out to the barges. The plan
mad been to make the dam clear
across. and then, as the water raised, blow
d gap IN the middle with a torpedo, but the
pressure OF the water was SO great that two
VI tne oarges We're carried away, making
an interval through which four of the pun.
boats successfully passed. The wilt5 ~
the river at this point was six hundre1 f.at.
and after this experience Colonel Bailey
deelned 1t lmpracticable to put the dam
c'ear across. The gap was left, and three
aavS were occupied in constructing wing
cams above. The device was entirely s,c.
cessiul, and nine more guuboats and two
tugs passed down into deep water.
The bare mention. of these details con.
Veys no adequate idea of the labo & Of 10
s~oldlerS: They worked under the bulni y
sun, and In the cold dews of night by ,bee
light of lanterns. They were in water All
the time; sometimes it was above their
waists. They toiled Against a swift CIV
rent. Many OF them must have iud .ed the
effort to be hopeless; but they toiled n ~
With the utmost patti. nee and fdel;tr n
u~ood,humor otter jests and laughter. nrs.
val ed as the work went on. pAo-
ihere was no difficulty in filing the de-
talls. All were willing, all ready Az
while this work went on, other details Of
me army were building Notifications w
shore and making reconnoissanoes, to in
sure the position. !" NJ
Not only did the soldiers execute tho.o
great labors, but they ,nlaalSa ~ enese